Well, this tank lacks a good gun. And the armor is not very bouncy either.
So if you are striving to get a T-44, just ask yourself before you start to grind it; why, if it is such a good tank, do you rarely see any in battle? I keep asking myself that question, and I believe that I have begun to reveal the answer.
I will keep driving this thing, but sofar it is more of a grind than the T-43 ever was. All I got left to unlock is the last engine (and the T-54, ofc). But even that last engine will not make my pen better, nor my armor any stronger.

Need better gun? Go play tds!
Need better armor? Heavy tanks!
T44 is great. I still have stock engine and yea it is hard with stock gun but once you get lb-1 its great. I managed to bouce from is7, e4 jagdtiger etc...
Just avoid 1 on 1 vs heavy tanks. If neccesary track them and flank. Dont head on in battle alone. Remember that speed and agility are your best weapons.

Need better gun? Go play tds!
Need better armor? Heavy tanks!
T44 is great. I still have stock engine and yea it is hard with stock gun but once you get lb-1 its great. I managed to bouce from is7, e4 jagdtiger etc...
Just avoid 1 on 1 vs heavy tanks. If neccesary track them and flank. Dont head on in battle alone. Remember that speed and agility are your best weapons.

Do you see a lot of these awesome T-44's roaming the countryside? I do not.

Hm, don't know why you feel that way, Burrows. T-44 is an epitome of a good brawling medium for me, with it's strengths and weaknesses in the right places. This is how I have always imagined gameplay with a "true" medium tank.

Hm, don't know why you feel that way, Burrows. T-44 is an epitome of a good brawling medium for me, with it's strengths and weaknesses in the right places. This is how I have always imagined gameplay with a "true" medium tank.

In all honesty, it might be that I just suck with it. I play all my tanks almost every day (I do not have that many, but nevertheless) and they all require a different playstyle due to their own strengths and weaknesses.
I might have to play the T-44 solely for a while to really get a feel for how to drive it properly.

i have just got my t44 and the 85mm with 144mm of pen make the grind so painful, i know its stock but 144mm of pen was lacking at tier 7, and now i have to use it for 34k xp :( its painful when you cant do anything against any of the other mediums you meet

Haven't played this one for long time and most probably Im going to buy it again. What equipment you suggest?
Before I sold T-44, I was pretty noobish while playing with it. I remember having Wet Ammo Rack as one of equipment.

Okay, so I unlocked the final engine. It sure transformed the tank into something that actually handles quite well!

But... Well, see the edit below.

Edit:
I got enough battles in this tank to say that I do terribly in it. I got 53% winrate in the all hated T-43 (and also on the T-34), but in this one I am at at mere 46%, and going straight down. Just had 7 8 9 10 game losses in a row. I bounce on everything, make zero damage pens, and every gun on the battlefield pens my armor like soft butter. Speed is useless when nobody cares to join in on a wolfpack. Armor is useless for peek-a-boo, so is alpha. Hanging back behind the heavies works sometimes, but that reduces this tank from a medium to a mere scavanger. That role you cannot take when you are top tier or top 5 in the game.

Hate it. Will grind through it to get to the T-54. Will also reduce my overall winrate down to less than 50% because of the grind. Nope, this tank is not that great after all. In fact, it does best when it is low tier, since then nobody seems to fire at you due to the knowledge that you cannot deal much damage. I have bounced three shots in a row off the ass of an E-75 (straight on), and KV-5's are pretty much impenetrable from every angle. Sure, shoot the R2D2. But manage that when you try to circle strafe them. Good luck...

Another edit:
Do not forget to bring a small repair kit. You will need it. Every game, costing you 3K creds. Only problem is that you will have a hard time choosing what to repair. Damaged ammorack, tracks, or gun? Standing still equals deat. But having the ammorack damaged, reducing your reload speed to about 15 seconds sucks, since you need to fire to be of any use. And when the gun is busted all you can do is fire inaccurately, thus you will miss every shot at any distance over 100 meters.
Take your pick.
And do not think you will not need that repair kit - because you will.

Today in battle had a fight with another T-44. He was using 85mm and probably, spamming HE at my turret. 1 - knocked out my gunner 2 - took out gun. Repair. 3 - Took out gun again. Didn't lose any HP points.

Just got one so its stock but Im not impressed in the slightest. I will post again when I have kitted it out but something tells me Im not going to get the brawler tank which is all Ive ever wanted from this game. I kick my self for missing out on the T59. Once kitted out I will post back. Not looking forward to the grind on this one at all and I hate to be negative but I dont think its going to make that much of a difference. If it ends up being a tank I have to hide all the time its not for me. I want a T59!!!

Do you see a lot of these awesome T-44's roaming the countryside? I do not.

Its a good point. I dont, and the same with T54s. The king of the meds is undoubtedly the T59. I dont see any of them playing peek a boo, hiding in bushes. Always brawling, making kills, having a blast...... just as it should be.

Edit
Just to add that if the team wins the credits and XP are way better which is obvious but its really noticeable in this tank. But if the team loses you lose credits and the XP is awful. Doesnt seem to make much of a difference how much damage I do (if the team loses) I still lose credits and receive v low XP. yet even if I do very little damage and the team wins its quite decent. DId that make sense hahah

Edit - Day 2 of playing T44
Still stock - Only gained enough XP to acquire tracks (WOW) but Im holding off for the engine - which may need the tracks? Playing this tank stock is utter misery making grind so painful just to get the other bits due to the very low XP return, especially when the team loses - and if you/ the team lose in the tank you lose credits every time. It is by far the worst credit and Xp generating tank I have used to date. I wouldnt mind so much but look at the XP cost of all the other bits you need. Worst of all though is Im just no use the team in this tank for the moment. Its slow, cant hurt anything as your always up against high tier enemies and in general just far more powerful tanks (even meds). SO for now im playing a cowards game just hiding and taking shots when I can because as soon as Im seen Im pretty much finished. I hate playing such a style. Im a get in there and brawl player but no way can you do that with this tank. T59 wastes me in seconds. Its embarrassing and yet its supposed to be a tier up from the T59 - Joke!. There is no need to make this tank so awful when its stock. The only reason for that is so you get your wallet out, use another tank to generate XP and pay to transfer to research modules. Its totally intentional by WG to frustrate you in to doing this. But Ive done enough of that so wont be getting the credit card out for gold. I suspect anyway once I have all the bits its not going to make that much of a difference and it wont be the brawler Im looking for. Def WONT be doing the grind to the T54. Its not helping the majority of teams I find my self in lose but I must take some responsibility for that to due to the crapiness of this tank. One decent tank CAN make a big difference to the outcome of the match. So this tank really lets every one down.